inescapable
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of inescapable
First recorded in 1785–95; in- 3 + escapable ( def. )
Explanation
Something that's inescapable is impossible to get away from. A reluctant swimmer may stop trying to talk his mom out of making him go to swimming lessons once he realizes that learning to swim is inescapable. Any force or occurrence or duty that you just can't avoid is inescapable. Feeling angry at people you love sometimes is inescapable, and children growing older is also inescapable. The adjective combines the prefix in, or "not, the opposite of," with escapable, which comes from the Vulgar Latin word excappare, literally "get out of one's cape," or "leave a pursuer holding just one's cape."
Vocabulary lists containing inescapable
The Honest Truth
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Winger
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"Our Mysterious Universe" and "A Black Hole is NOT a Hole"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hydraulic mining was in effect outlawed in 1884 — by a court order, not legislation — but by then the environmental devastation it had unleashed in the Sacramento Valley was inescapable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
At the time, posts featuring celebrities and influencers clad in medical scrubs posing with Prenuvo MRI machines felt inescapable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
The culture and politics of the Sunbelt — sometimes called “America B” by people who spend too much time online — is now inescapable.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
It's a song that has become inescapable, whether you're scrolling on TikTok, listening to the radio or even filling up your trolley on the weekly shop.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
To that end, Cope willed his bones to the Wistar Institute, a learned society in Philadelphia endowed by the descendants of the seemingly inescapable Caspar Wistar.
From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
